today we're at unbound gravel and i'm with one of the cameras if you don't end up
talking about the other moments
actually there's a comedian molly cameron you're funny thanks i've had my camera out all day long
we did a ride this morning and i was recording making francis really nervous and now the camera's
on me and now i'm getting it well this is a brand new video series called bikes of unbound
which i decided on in the last 10 seconds we're going to check out some bikes of
unbound i just started riding niner bikes this year they're a new sponsor to me so i actually
have to like look at my bike to tell you because i don't remember that this is the rlt 9rdo i don't
know what rlt stands for but i do not do know that uh rdo needs to stay optimized listen stick
so actually this is that's a good stick take this with you because if it's muddy
this is the hot tip if it's muddy tomorrow and everything the course turns into heavy clay
you're going to need a stick because that clay is going to pack up and you're going to need to
scrape the mud and clay off your bike and your wheels i'll save this for you thank you so much
from hogwarts i'm sorry it is isn't it yeah i love two chainring bikes i've been riding two
chainring bikes forever like when everything went single ringing i actually raced single ring when
i was racing since i crossed world cups i was racing single ring bikes because that's what
all the euros were doing i was like oh you know it's richard gruden all can ride the singer and
i should probably say and then i switched to two buys and i love it because i like
having a big big ring and a small small ring this is my first gravel bike i've been racing my own
brand of cyclocross bikes for a long time because i'm a transgender athlete and you know what up
until recent years transgender folks like have a very hard time getting jobs getting sponsorships
and partnerships so big thank you to my long time partners shimano envy composites laser helmets
castelli my automotive partners point us and nokian tires i'm really hyped because niner
came on board this year and really they love all the advocacy work and the other kind of community
building and outreach work that i'm doing and the diversity and inclusion work that i'm doing within
the business and the sport is cycling we'll touch on in another video segment with uh the on the
francis kids show because this is about my bike so this is actually a gravel bike but this is
perfect because this is also my first unbound uh the only other time i've been to kansas was for a
belgian waffle ride in lawrence kansas last year which i did win the what the 100k or whatever the
shorter course and i raced that on a cyclocross bike cyclocross bike you drive the bike you're
more over the front wheel you are paying attention to the bike a lot more this i've been riding this
for only a couple weeks now i raced rule of three in bentonville last weekend and the only way to
describe it is you know it has a lower bottom bracket than what i'm traditionally used to and
the front end is a little more slack and i've realized that i can't drive this bike i'm not
pushing my niner into corners like i do with the cyclocross bike i kind of just have to let it do
its thing um and that's perfect for out here where it's not very technical there's just like you know
a lot of long straight roads and then you'll hit a 90 degree turn or you know a gradual turn
and this is going to be perfect because this is so much more comfortable than my cyclocross bikes
over 100 miles we were doing the 100 mile race tomorrow morning it's going to be really comfy
and stable and that will hopefully hopefully be less tiring than riding my cross bikes which have
required a lot more kind of attention to driving the bike and steering the property so i mean
you've we've all done like bike reviews and we all know about bikes right like this is a modern
bike it's a shimano equip with a full grx groupo i've got a 4831 um i love pushing the big green
i love me some headwind and hard riding and you know hopefully it is wet and miserable
because i will shine that might be the only way i can actually like have a good result
if it's just miserable and it's a total [ __ ] show i usually shine when conditions are poured
um 160 ml rotors which probably won't touch the brakes a whole lot out here this weekend
is there any corners i mean there are 90 dude you know we rode today there are corners but not
corners like a single track turn or a technical corner it's 90 degree turn i mean we're in the
farmlands there's like roads that are like you know three miles or five or ten miles this way
and then you go right or left and it's going to be a lot of that there's water crossings
they actually had to reroute the 200 course because there's flooding so if it rains again
tonight it is going to be a mess just to quickly add here there is chances of thunderstorms this
is the midwest i was born in texas so i'm from the south i'm from kind of just south of this
region and yeah you'll see the sky turn purple and everything will just start to feel heavy i mean
you're from the uk like where you used to rain and like dark skies you feel the pressure change like
it's this weird thing you can feel your bones you're like oh a storm is coming you can feel
it rolling in it's gonna be windy it's gonna be heavy it's weird because if it's dry at all
when it is dry it will be fast like we rode today just roads some of them are just fast because of
the possible challenging conditions have you made any adjustments to your like tire choice
or you just gone for the same as you would normally the only thing i will consider
because of my cycle cross background i love riding low tire pressure and if it does rain
i asked amanda naumann and i've asked yuri oswald and dan hughes and some other winners
of the unbound who have raced i've literally never been here these rides this morning were
my first rides here can i run lower pressure on a course like this so the flint hills and the
rocks out here are very sharp but with a tubeless tire so with my challenge getaway 40 millimeter
tires on nvg23 rim with tubeless sealant and actually a finish line to the ceiling in them
i'm not worried about bottoming out and puncturing an inner tube and i don't have cush core or
anything in there i'm just running a bunch of sealant and the tires i did coat the sidewalls
of my tires with aquaseal because i think the big factor here will be the rocks just cutting
your sidewalls it's similar in arkansas there are rocks in uh like the upper 40 in between arkansas
and missouri northwest arkansas are very sharp so i'm not really worried about direct punctures
from thorns or something like that or even bottoming out on the ribs
i'm worried about just cutting and tearing the sidewalk so the word from all these pros
that have won unbound is that yes you can get away with low pressure so if it's muddy too
you'll want a little lower pressure for traction i'm a light light rider on the bike i'm not as
hard on my tires um if you're a rider that's not a really good bike handler or are kind of heavy
on the bike not weight not weight heavy but just your tangling technique is kind of force forcey
and smashy on the bike you'll probably destroy your tires get a puncture i will probably run like
30 psi in the rear maybe 25 in the front but i'm gonna make the call this evening
i feel like i learned a lot i'm gonna copy your tire pressures the thing ultimately i've learned
is that you just want to finish the race like it's 100 miles you'll have a more comfortable ride and
maybe get a little more traction with slightly lower pressure but if you're getting punctures
and you're fighting all the time it's gonna it's your you know you get dropped popped out
of the group so if you're in a group and you're following if you're in a group that's racing
you're not you can't see you're following the wheels and you can't see what they're
hitting what potholes you're hitting so having higher pressure just kind of prevents that
you know from tagging stuff and just well i'll finish this video with a call to action
follow molly there will be links down below uh where is the best place to find you
so at the molly cameron on all social media and then i did start an advocacy
organization called ride which you can find at ridegroup.org or ride advocacy on instagram